The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-03-31
CIVIL SERVICE FIGURES.
Extracts Prom "a Report to the Civil SER
Vice Reform League.

Vice Reform League
NEW YORK. March 3ti--The commit
tee appointed L. consider the enforce
ment and operation of the Civil Service
Law 1.-THE principles and methods fol-
lowed by the National Administration in
making appointments and removals or
suspensions. and the progress of the re-
/ formed system of the Civil Servicr in
/ State and municipal government report
t,i At the sef>ion of the National civil
| Service Reform League TODAY. The
report Is very hong. Following ar,. ex-
/ tracts from il:
| I'm their inquiry into the enforcement
| and operation of the Civil Service. Law
and the rules and regulations hereunder
IN the Government departments in
| Washington. the. committee have been
| greatly assisted bV the details furnished
| To the CfrH !Sert'ice Recof1f bv tin. heads
| of departments with the approval of the
| President. and published in that journal
| There are about 800 places included in
what IL called tin. departmental service.
| at Washington. From the 4th of March.
| lss1. L" the 18th of June. lSS'j. a period
of one year and a littl'. more than thr,-.
months. the removals in this service
We're nearly six and onr-half per cent.
and the new appointments about eight
per cent In the State Department thu
| removals were ten per cent. and the ap-
pointments five and one-half In the
Treasury the removals were fiv. and one
halfsper cent. the appointments ten and
one-half per cent. I'm the War Depart
| ment the removals We're three per cent.
including eleven di,miS~alS bV reduction
of force. and the appointments were. siX
and eIght-tcnths per cent. I'm the Post
office Department the removals were two
per cent, and the appointments twclvr
per cent. In the Interior Department the
removals We're four per cent. the aI,-
IDintnentS SIX per cent: AMI in the De
partment of Justice the removals were
three per cent. and the appointments
twelve and one-haIf. That notNith-
standing this small percentage of change
there have been inaliv Iiual instances Of
in Justice. of forced resignation. and of
arbitrary diSmiss;tls il certain. Tire r.
port from Washington. however, upon
the whole j. gratifying. Nowhere i, the
partisan and personal pressure for change
more concentrated and constant. i;ut
the figures show that the rules i'm general
have been faithfully observed. Not for
half century have there been 80 few
removals in that SeTVicc within the simt.
time upon a party change of admni>tra-
tIon. and the observance of the rules and
| ments demonstrate once more both the
practicability and the b,-n.fit of tin. re-
form.
''Besid..S the 1850 places in tlIrdcpart-
ment at Washington the Civil Service.
law apple, to \. .2'':i Positions in the Gus
toms and postal service throughout th"
country. The. classified postal ~cryic,
| includes twenty-cight p"St-otfic'-- and
the classified customs service eleven Gus
tom houses. ThtS.. art. distributed
among the twenty-one States. and in the
other States there il as vet no classified
service and all the appointment, art.
made AT pleasure. I'm hiS l.-tter To the
League, from which we have already
quoted. the President SAYS h,. Regards
himself a. pledged to the fair and honest
enforcement of the law D,r'iIIss. public
duty requires that like all other statutes
1T should be in gnnd faith and without
evasion enforced. ~ none of tht.
positions covered 10y the law are within
the Presidents appointment. the only
way lin which hc can fulfil his pledge
and secure the enforcement of the law l.
by the appointment of friends of reform
To- the head of all the offices i'm which the
service. Is classified. Whl.. the traditions
Of the spoils system are still fresh and 50
manv of the abuses which il produces
are still uncorrecte,i there l. Just pre-
sumption against The faithful enforce
ment of the reformed Law in it, letter
and spirit in all offices of which the head
H. not known Ia be friendly to il. \
mere perfunctory observance of the law
inevitably suggests that il will he cy:ide,l
and violated wherever eVa,ion~ and
violations are practicable.
There are not altogether forty post
offices and custom houses in the cl.t>~
fled service. They are all, with two or
three exceptions. situated IN the largest
cities and il should seem perfectly prac-
ticable To ascertain the views Uport re-
form of any person who II proposed for
appointment To an important office and
To fores.e his probable official action.
The uniform selection for such appoint
ment of known friends of reform. as i'm
the cas-. of the present heads of the two
chief offices of the kind i'm the country.
the poat-otfice and custom houS'. i'm New
York. would have been unmistakably
significant of the purpose of the admins
tration. However excellent the private
character and general ability of persons
nominated To- such offices may be. how
ever high their party standing and how
ever efficient their party activity, II l.
plain that that the best public guarantee.
of the honest operation at the reform
law lies in the known determination of
the appointing officer faithfully To- exc
cute il. This j. q consideration of the,
service and to the reformed system.
There must be general confidence that
the rules will be observed that there will
be perfect fair play toward every applI-
cant. that personal favorItiSm Will bc rN-
cluded. and that every man will IL.
tested honestly by the result of his exam
ination and probation. or the best men
will not apply for examination. the sys-
tenn will H. justly regarded a. a mere
partisan scheme. and the public service
will be filled from the least COMPETENT
class of the dominant party. But such
confidence il impossible when the head
of the office i, known t. le Indifferent or !
unfriendly Ia reform.
''Du th.. :atth of June. lS~6. the whoI.. !
number of pOst-oifIce- was J.i.Glt. of |
which , .2.IJ wer,. filled 10y appointment of |
the President. Besides this number of /
pDStmaSteT- there are about 3.1.vDn per /
son, employed in the postal service. Of /
which 6.ot1 are included in the classified 4
service. Within the one year and four 4
months of the term of the administra-
tion ending on the :ath Of June il 4
would appear that the new appoint
ments i'm the post offices had been prob
ably a little more than ~ Ir.r cent At
that date the pp>t-offic,-> which comIa,~..
the largest and most important branch Of
the public service. Were about equally
divided between old AMI new incum-
l-nt>. MANY Of tht~e changes have
merely substituted offensive paTti-au-
of one party for Offensive tsarti-an- Of
another. The records Of the executive